Last Time Around
by Color Me Berserk
Summary: Ruby won. She killed Salem, wiped out the Grimm, obtained all four relics and inherited all the maiden powers. But their's no point in having the power of a god if no one is left to share it with. As punishment for letting the world come to an end, the gods of creation and destruction send her back in time to drown in her failures for all eternity.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Hey folks. Welcome to my new story. It is sorta based on a book i wrote when i was a kid, but more of than after the chapter. I meant to get another chapter of RWBY:CE done today but My Hero Academia was so fucking hype i completely forgot to actually write the damned thing haha. So i guess you will have to settle for this.**

* * *

Last Time Around: Chapter 1: Fate

* * *

The end of the world is nothing like I imagined it would be.

Grimm flooding across the city, piling up and climbing over each other in their mad rush to kill everything. Volcanos erupting and blanketing the land with lava. Meteors striking remnant and blasting entire sections of the world to smithereens. That's what I expected the end to be like. Chaos and carnage, death and destruction on a massive scale.

I didn't expect it to be absolutely silent.

And for me to be completely alone.

The ruins of Vale, a place I often find myself when I want to reflect on my horrible life choices, are silent like the graveyard I knew it to be. No Grimm scurried furtively between the rubble, no birds flew overhead, and no humans picked their way through the destroyed city looking for something of use.

After all these years, I am the only thing left.

Not just in Vale either. The fallen city breathed its last almost a hundred years ago now. It was only ten years between the fall of Vale and the demise of the other bastions of mankind. And without those safe havens... humanity never really stood a chance.

I can't help but sigh at the memories pushing through the fog in my head. Billions died in just a few years, tens of thousands of Hunter's fought in one last effort to cut the head from the snake and hopefully end it all for good. But it was all for naught.

The enemy died, but the damage was already done.

The beasts of the night lost their focus, but the madness that overtook them was almost as dangerous. With no Hunters left to protect them there wasn't anything anyone could do.

But not me. I _could_ have saved them. Saved everyone.

My eyes could have made the difference. Stopped everything in its tracks years before it reached its tipping point, but by the time anyone actually bothered to let me in on the secrets of the world, it was too late. Far too late.

My silver eyes sting slightly at the thought. I know if I could look at myself an ethereal pale mist is pouring from them and down my face. These eyes could have made all the difference.

No point in thinking on that now however. I finished hunting down the last of the Grimm years ago. Now these legendary eyes are useful for little more than lighting up a dark room. Even than they do a far worse job than Fall.

Or Spring, or Summer. Hell, even Winter does a better job making a light.

My long walk is interrupted by the massive towers of the school I attended almost a century ago looming over me. The broken skyline towers high above on top of a sheer cliff, stabbing up into the sky like some monstrous twisted talons of a beast that doesn't yet know it's dead.

I want to be up there, see the place that meant so much to be one final time.

On my hip, four small lamps leaking multicolored lights flare brightly.

In less than the time it takes for you neurons to begin to even register time has passed I am standing on top of the cliff among the towers I used to adore so much.

The four relics were incredible little devices capable of creating magicks unheard of even in the ages of legend. When I first obtained them, I hoped to use them to fix the world. Do what every child who can't accept their favorite story tastes bittersweet hopes to do and go back and fix what was done wrong.

I learned the hard way that nothing, not even a physical god can bring back the dead.

And believe me, I am a god now.

Or close enough, there isn't really any competition with everything else on the plane dead and gone.

I'm fairly certain Blake told me once that in one of the books she was reading they made a point talking about how being effectively a god, and actually a god, were the same thing.

I wish I read more with her before she... before the end. I never spent enough time with my team. In the beginning I tried so hard to be with them, but soon enough I always found an excuse on my lips.

The downfall of humanity is a good excuse for pushing away your friends.

I make my way through the worn overgrown paths. Memories fly unbidden through my mind with each step.

Tripping over my soon to be best friend Weiss and accidentally exploding.

That same pale face, laying on her side, eyes wide and unseeing. I was always oddly thankful she died before the creeps got to her and began to tear her to shreds. No one deserved that.

My fiery sister Yang starting the mother of all food fights. A ghost of a smile tries to form on my face at the happy memories of absolutely _destroying_ the lunch hall.

The almost happy moment is ruined by the image of my sister dead, half destroyed corpse laying in my lap.

Then sting in my eyes grows to an intense burning. Like little flames have been shoved in my eyes.

I consider myself unfortunately that I know so vividly what being burned to death feels like.

Blake left soon after that. The quiet girl just... shut down. No real team left. No family to tell her everything would be okay, and the blood of her younger brother fresh on her hands she just... stopped.

Her job was done and she had nothing left to fight for. Nothing left to live for.

Except me. But by that time, I was a just a shadow of the friend I once was. A dark imitation, like a shadow cast by a great woman when light and heat fall upon them.

Just a void with a similar outline.

I would like nothing more than to blame my mother from that, but I know my choices caused more strife than Raven ever did. Say what you will about the old bird, but at least she was straightforward. I can think of only a handful of times she bent the truth, or even used an ounce of subtlety.

Compared to Oz and his damned secrets and lies it was much preferable.

I shake my head to draw myself out of the familiar rut. if I let myself think about that bastard of a wizard for long it ends up being all I can do. He tried to take the relics from me in the end. He claimed it was all part of some fucking plan.

I can only assume the blade of my scythe ripping his throat to bloody ribbons was not a part of it.

If it was, well... Fuck him. I got sick of his scheming when I was still a wide-eyed child.

I finally break myself out of my haze and stare at the door in front of me.

JNPR

I don't want to think about them. I turn and look at the opposite dorm where I once lived along my team.

RWBY

We were a good team. Probably the best there ever was by the time we actually got running. If we had actually managed to get all the maidens and relics split between us we probably could have destroyed anything on the world easily.

The door falls to pieces when I give it a gentle push. The room in side is much as I remember. albeit with a century of wear and tear on it.

What was once two impromptu bunkbeds being now piles of rotted out wood and cloth. The desks are still almost standing, each teetering dangerously. A fly landing on them would probably collapse them like the door.

I step inside the room and spin around slowly to take it all in. The old familiar smells of my team are long gone, eroded away like everything else. The once vibrant posters that adorned the walls are faded away or tattered shreds. Blakes precious books that she had to leave behind during the fall (and often complained about for years afterwards) were nothing more than rat chewed shreds by now.

So, all in all, about what I expected to find.

A burning heat trails down my cheeks. I reach up and wipe the glowing silver tears from my face. Each one has enough power packed inside of it to demolish a building, but they are useless to me now.

Even my own fucking tears are taunting me for being so damned useless.

 _Useless_.

A thousand memories force their way through the fog and I fall to my knees. My breath comes in shallow, panics wheezes and sobs tear their way through my throat. I can't get enough air, but I can't stop weeping.

Gradually everything fades away, and the fog once again covers my eyes.

* * *

When I awake again the world is dark. Not the normal dark of night, but a primal, endless deepness. No natural night could prevent my eyes from piercing through it, especially emboldened by the other magicks flowing through me, but the slick oily darkness fills everything.

I don't have any sense of time in here, not that I had a good one before, so I don't know how long I am floating before a soft feminine voice whispers in my head.

 _"Oh, little one. We gave you so many chances. So many opportunities to make things right. Why must you fight us at every turn?"_

I turn my head seeking the voice, but it seems to come from inside my mind.

"I tried my hardest." I whisper back. I don't know what this voice is but something about it scares me. I feel tiny and week under an invisible gaze I can't trace.

 _"No. You barely tried at all. Every single choice presented, you spat in the face of fate and chose the worse option. Maybe not the worst, but never the best. Not a single time did you make the proper choice as you were told."_

"Shut up! It's not... it's not my fault!"

A second voice joins the first. This one carries just as much weight, but in place of the overwhelming disappointment of the first this one harbors and overwhelming rage.

 _"Of course it is you pathetic creature. If you never existed the world would have turned out far better than this... boring mess you turned it into. Every single time we gave you the chance to make the world a better place you turned it down and spat in our faces. Everything that brought the world be created to ruin can be placed on your shoulders."_

I reach for the magicks swirling around inside of me.

 _"Don't bother little rat. We already have a punishment for you, there's no getting out of this."_

Just as fast as I grab onto it the comforting heat of the maiden powers are ripped from my grip. It feels like a chunk is torn from within me and pulled out through my wrists.

 _"We can hear you mind. You think that if you just knew how things would turn out you could have averted everything. We will show you just how wrong you are little rat._ "

My skin starts to burn and the darkness bleeds away revealing two figures floating in front of me. Both are humanoid, one a woman with long flowing white hair and dark skin. Her face was trailed with tears, pure sorrow carved into her face. The other was a man with pale skin and midnight black hair, a rictus of anger and hate marring otherwise perfect features.

The man speaks. His voice thunders through my ears and sets my mind aflame.

 _"You will continue to fail. Over and over. No matter how many times you try. Because despite all the gifts we bestowed upon you, you are still too weak to do what is right in the end."_

The woman to his side sobs quietly and wipes tears from her face.

 _"I'm sorry Ruby"_ The goddess whispers, _"But we can't forgive you for this."_

I scream in agony as the world flares bright. Far brighter than anything even my eyes can take.

The world bursts around me and I begin to fall.

* * *

I open my eyes to a familiar sight, an issue of Swords and Ammo. It was a weapon magazine I used to read when I was a kid.

Wait a minute...

I spin around in shock. I was in _From Dust Till Dawn_. The dust shop I often frequented as a child when I felt like reading magazines or needed more ammo for Crescent Rose.

"I said put your hands up!" A deep voice comes from beside me. I turn and frown at the goon pointing a machete my way.

Instinct takes over. A century of battle instinct from thousands of fights to the death take over. A burning sensation spreads across my face and a bright flash of silver light illuminates the room. The goon stands still, unmoving and not breathing. After several seconds the man simply crumbles away into a pile of dust.

I step over the pile, careful not to get any of the trash of my boots.

 _Time to save the world._

* * *

 **Welcome to the bottom!**

 **Okay so lets see.. what did i wanna talk about...**

 **Well for start this chapter is in first person, and the entire story should be in 1st as well. I enjoy writing in first person because i find it flows a lot better for me, but i tend to have problems like starting every god damn sentence with "I" so i need the practice.**

 **The United States of Smash was as glorious as i hoped.**

 **And the story this is based on...**

 **When i was young i wrote a draft of a book. I think i was like 14 or some shit. Basically the way it worked was the story was from the perspective of a hero training at a magical school type of deal in a fantasy world, and their was another background character student who knows way too much and keep throwing a spanner in the works to change things. The main plot was that the background character was the original hero of the story, and would have been the main character, but they lost and he sent his memories back to the past to fix things. Every time they failed again, or he died, he would flash back to the past again over and over until he had done it millions of times.**

 **The main sort of takeaway from the story was that even with all the knowledge in the world, some things are just impossible to overcome. The ending of the story was him accepting that he lost after expending literally every possible option, although that final timeline was told from the new main character perspective.**

 **It was fun to write. Had a lot of mystery because so little was explained, and didn't feal like a Fix Fic type of thing because their was no original story.**

 **i want to go back and re-write it, but i decided to redo it as a fanficiton first as practice because hot damn my first drafts are still fucking awful.**

 **If you dont believe they are awful, read the text in this chapter a second time. Its fucking trash hahaha.**

 **But that is why we practice after all.**

 **Oh, and the United States of Smash made me cry like a little fucking bitch. It was great.**


	2. Chapter 2

Last Time Around: Chapter 2: Sack of Rome

* * *

 _ **Another Time. Another Place.**_

 _"Ruby why are you doing this?" My naïve sister asks. She is laying on her back with both hands pressed over a gaping wound in her stomach. Despite her efforts bright red blood flows from the wound quickly. Far too quickly. Anyone with any know how would be able to immediately tell the young Huntress is already dead._

 _Everything else is just a formality._

 _Looking at her pained face lined with confusion and betrayal is hard, but I can't bring myself to look away. Every time I feel like I have to watch her, take in everything I have done. Distantly I can almost remember her dying in my arms with wounds from another, but the blame still mine._

 _But that was a long time ago, too long to count, and the fog takes the memory as soon as it forms._

 _I lean in closer to her, until our faces are only inches apart. I can feel the tears pouring down my face. This was always so gods damned hard, but I had to do it. I can never work up the nerve to go through with it later, far too content to just sit back and enjoy life with my friends. Pretending just for a moment that I can live a happy life, and the world isn't ending._

 _"I'm sorry Yang. I can't have any distractions." I close my eyes against the tears and pull myself away from her. Her breaths are shorter now. I need to end this before it gets any harder. Crescent Rose lays forgotten on the ground nearby where it was tossed it after stabbing my sister. It feels wrong in my hands when I pick it back up, like I'm holding some sort of snake just waiting to bite out at those around me._

 _The blade of Crescent Rose comes down on her neck and my sister joins the rest of my friends in the afterlife._

 _Where they can be safe from the horrors to come._

 _Where they won't get in my gods damned way._

* * *

I slowly walk around the shelves and get my first view of Roman Torchwick in years. The orange haired well-dressed thief looks exactly how I remember. Cocky grin, fancy clothes, flare gun cane.

Killing him should be easy.

The flash from my eyes seems to have gone unnoticed by the rest of the store giving me pliantly of time to slowly approach the goons robbing the store. My hand reaches behind me to the unfamiliar feel of Crescent Rose. She was my first baby, but I had many children since I was a child. This rough amateur feel of the weapon is oddly nostalgic. It would have to be replaced, but for now...

It should do for killing some chickens.

My approach is silent. Between Blake and Qrows lessons I am more than capable of sneaking up on some idiot henchmen, the only possible problem will be Roman but he is too interested in grandstanding to the old shopkeeper to notice. The three suited men siphoning dust however, will be dying tonight.

Ever so slowly I pull the folded-up form of my scythe from my back and hold it loosely by my side. The weight is more than I expected. My young body is pathetically weak, even with the puny weight of Crescent Rose.

One of the goons looks up from his work siphoning dust from the dispensers. Behind his ridiculous shades his eyes widen and his mouth opens wide to shout a warning to his fellows who still have their backs to me.

SHWIIING!

The beautiful metallic sound of Crescent Rose sliding open melds perfectly into the hiss of the blade slicing through the air. The goons mouth gapes open like a fish, slowly opening and closing before a quiet gurgle comes from his bleeding throat.

Two down. Two more on the way.

The corpse slumps to the ground and startles the other would be thieves to alertness. Out of the corner of my eye I can see Roman spin around and draw his cane at the approaching danger.

He's quite fast for a conman. His henchmen however...

I flare my semblance once again and my arm moves faster than an eye can track it. The remaining two men in front of me scream in shock and pain. My blade went clean through their backs in one fluid motion, cutting through their spins just high enough to stop their breathing.

Like puppets with their strings cut they flop to the ground. In a few short minutes they will be dead, they just don't realize it yet.

Four down.

A quick swing of my blade sends an arc of blood through the air towards the remaining thieves. That's something I learned to do years ago during the fighting against the White Fang. The weak animals are quite inclined to running away when they are splattered with their dead compatriots' fresh warm blood.

It worked quite well in my youth. Most of Qrows lessons did.

It works quite well now as well. When the blood lands on the faces of the remaining goons their faces twist from panic and anger to disgust and fear. All but Romans eyes go wide and one of the suited men makes a break for the door. I could shoot him in the back. I probably should shoot him to be safe, but I want to keep the sniper rifle a secret for now.

Five down.

"Hello Roman Torchwick." I growl while slowly walking towards the thief. Each step I take forward he matches it in reverse, slowly backing towards the shops front door. I spare a glance for the front counter and see he left the briefcase of dust behind. Very smart of him to leave both hands free.

His face still has its trademark smirk but I can see worry starting to peak through. "Hello to you too Red." He looks down at his formerly pristine white jacket now stained with blood, "You ruined a perfectly good outfit you know?" He had slowly angled the tip of his cane towards me as he spoke so it now points towards my left leg. He pulls the trigger and a bright orange flare explodes from his cane and rockets towards me.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Get her!" He shouts at the remaining handful of henchmen. They surge forward as one while Roman sprints headlong out the door and into the night.

Idiots should run too. I guess you don't become a henchman if you have good survival instincts.

I can't help but sigh before flooding my body with aura and tearing through the men. They don't last long, none of them have the training to keep up with me as a child let alone my current skills honed by thousands of deadly encounters.

If I was still capable of it I would feel sorry for them. They thought they were just going to rob a undefended dust store. A quick in and out.

Yang would have made a pun about my scythe being a quick in and out, but that's not important. As I carve my way through the goons I realize for the first time that Yang is still alive. She _can_ still make shitty puns that drive me insane.

My eyes begin to tingle in response to the thoughts so I put them out of my head.

The fight lasts less than a minute before the final goon falls to the ground clutching in vain at the new openings I sliced into both of his thighs.

I let my aura retreat back into my core and step out of the store into the cool night air. Behind me I can hear the old man who runs the shop saying something but I can't make it out through the pounding of the adrenaline in my ears.

It wouldn't be anything important anyway.

I look up just in time to see the Roman disappear over the top of a nearby building. Typical Roman, always running away with his tail between his legs as soon as he goes up against anything unexpected.

We never gave him enough credit for being smart when I was young. Running was often the best choice, I never did it enough as a kid. Always thinking I could push through and persevere if I just kept going long enough.

Thinking back, I really was an idiot.

It only takes a few shots of Crescent Rose to get me on top of the building. Roman stands as far away from me as possible, cane held in an iron grip aimed right at my head. He's clearly nervous, but now that he is out in the open and closer to his escape route he looks to have regained some of his confidence.

"Well Red, it has been fun, but it's time for me to-" He dives to the side narrowly avoiding the bullet I sent at his head. Attack when people are talking, another of Qrows lessons.

The thief takes cover behind an AC unit and returns fire with his cane. With my semblance active the flares look like they are traveling through water. Gracefully floating through the air, passing just close enough for me to feel the heat as I slide past them.

The world flashes back to normal speed and my stomach twists in pain as my aura runs out and my semblance shuts off. I curse under my breath as a flare I should have been able to easily dance around hits me in the side. The orange flare explodes and sends me tumbling across the rooftop, almost flinging me off entirely.

I'm a fucking idiot.

I forgot that without my years of training, the four seasons, or the relics my aura limits are a tiny fraction of what they were.

Roman grins now that he has me on the defensive. Without the overwhelming strength of my semblance, and with my weak body, I barely have the speed to deflect all of his flares with my scythe. Each one comes closer and closer to striking me again before just barely being twisted from my body by a red tinted blade or the long staff.

"As I was saying Red, my ride is here!" The cocky asshole shouts. A black painted bullhead lifts up from the street below and he quickly leaps inside.

I can see the familiar form behind the wheel of the gunship and my eyes burn fiercely.

A high-pitched whine, like a machine part heating up, slowly gets louder and louder as my eyes burn more and more. The pain is incredible, they havn't hurt this much in decades. Turns out my eyes were as untrained as the rest of my body.

POP!

The pain vanishes and the world is lit up like a silver camera flash coming from my eyes. Roman stumbles back into the bullhead. His aura exploded out from him to defend against the assault and I can see the orange motes of light of his shattered aura drifting off of him.

A woman's scream comes from the front of the bullhead. Through the dark glass the pilot's eyes are encased in an ethereal glow. Her screaming only gets more and more intense as the woman begins clawing at her face.

Poor Cinder. Maiden powers never did stand up well again my eyes. Especially a half-powered bastardization of one.

The glowing eyes flash even brighter for an instant. Hundreds of red magical glyphs sprout into existence around me. The energy in them is wild and pouring out like a sieve, blasting me with strong winds and sending my cloak flapping crazily. This is bad. Magics are dangerous already, uncontrolled magic is a recipe for disaster.

Luckily, I just so happen to have a pair of eyes that devour magic with the fervor of a starving beowolf.

My vision pierces the night around me as power builds in my eyes. The burning is more intense this time, but against genuine magic I need every ounce of power I can get.

POP!

My vision goes dark. Pain rips through my head and warm liquid pours down my face. I can hear shrill screaming coming from somewhere. I really wish they would shut up, I don't need the distraction right now when im about to be blown to bits my magical explosions

Oh. That is me.

I really need to stop screaming.

Something impacts my chest and sends me flying backwards, tumbling head over heels until my back slams against the low wall on the edge of the roof. If not for the eternal agony my eyes are putting me through it probably would hurt.

Which probably means Glynda is here.

That or Roman shot me in the chest and I am about to die.

I don't know how long I lie there against the side of the roof clutching at my face. Pain tends to have that effect on you after all, but after what feels like hours my eyes finally calm back down and I can peak one open.

Immediately I yelp in pain and shut the eye again.

Damned eyes. I forgot how bad the rebound was before I got used to them. The first time I used them as a kid it knocked me out for days. This wasn't as extreme a use of their powers but it was still enough to bite me in the ass.

"Are you alright?" A stern voice comes from above me. Glynda actually sounds worried, I never thought I would see the day. Compared to the harsh strictness I am used to from the combat instructor it is actually a bit off-putting.

"Yes, I'm fine." I squeak out through the pain. My voice is so high pitched, I sound like some sort of children's show character. How did anyone ever take me seriously sounding like that? No wonder Weiss thought I shouldn't be team leader, after actually listening to myself talk I wouldn't either.

But enough of that.

I peak my other eye open and this time am not greeted by light exploding in my head so I crack open my other eye as well. The blurry face of Glynda fills my vision, face etched with obvious worry over my condition. It almost makes me want to laugh but seeing her face close up makes my heart jolt in pain. The last time I saw the woman she was holding off Grimm allowing the rest of us to escape with our lives. I never got the chance to thank her.

Glynda was a harsh teacher but... she fucking died to save our lives. I am not letting that happen again.

I blink away the sticky substance from my eyes and stare up at the blonde Huntress. She looks so worried. Had she always cared with much? Did I just never notice?

A cold hand grips my heart and my composure breaks. Sobs wrack my body while the guilt crushes me from the inside out.

Damnit. I'm such an idiot.

* * *

 **Welcome to the bottom of the chapter!**

 **Let's see. What to say...**

 **Well for starters, thanks for reading everybody. This story is already more popular than my first one after a single chapter Hahahah. People really seam to love time travel, almost as much as they love angst and depression!**

 **I figure I may as well respond to some of the reviews since I... I actually have reviews. HUZZAH!**

 **For Starters, everyone who said they liked it, thanks!**

 **Now for specifics...**

 **Bomberguy789 : I kinda want the gods to be assholes. I always got that vibe from their punishment for Oz so i went with the idea that they blame people for their failures even when they dont have the full context for their actions. When it comes to the fall of man taking so little time, i always assumed that life outside of the cities would be incredibly risky because two of the very few non-city places we see all fell to grimm immediately (The Ren/Nora place and... the city with the train or whatever it was called). I figure without the cities and Hunters, normal people would fall pretty quick to normal grimm, and the mad one just finished off the stragglers. I also dont think Hunters have only been around for 80 years. I think the only thing that happened then was the main Academies were opened, i dont think they every say whether Hunters existed beforehand, but i prefer the idea that they existed and were just less formally trained before then. Thank you for your kind words as well!**

 **Edward Verdant:** **you bet they are! Gods are funnest in stories when they are either very loving but don't do anything, or assholes!**

 **OmegawarlodX:** **Yeah probably. I do like to cuss though. I wrote a comedic chapter of a Self Insert character once for fun and it was like... 20% curse words because i did it in spoken word :D**

 **Guest:** **I dont know yet if she will ever win. In my original story the stakes were alot higher, and the foe he was fighting against was FAAAAR worse than the Grimm. Think monsters made of nothingness that devour existence itself at the endo f the universe. In comparison theirs alot more ways for Grimm to be neutralized. I will probably have to increase the strength of the Grimm threat significantly if i want to really make Ruby lose.**

 **Sm0keyPanda:** **Thanks! These are pretty much unedited first drafts so i dont know how good they will be :P The first chapter took me about half an hour to write, and this one took about an hour because I'm rubbish with fight scenes.**


	3. Chapter 3

Last Time Around: Chapter 3: The Headmaster of Beacon.

* * *

 _Far below me the city of Vale burns. White Fang and Grimm swarm the streets, burning and killing anything they find. I pity those fools who think working with Grimm is the path to their salvation. They rush towards their ends, blind to the snake rearing up to meet them._

 _The familiar weight of Crescent Rose comforts me against the swirling emotions at seeing the city burn for what feels like the millionth time._

 _This plan never worked before but my execution has always been lacking. Little changes adjusting where the little rats' paths would take them. The great Dragon Grimm would come to my location any moment now regardless of my changes, but I won't be stopping the massive beast. The swarm of Hunters will take care of it when they arrive in a few hours. A few thousand civilians will die in the meantime but I found that to be a perfectly acceptable number for the advantage be gained by ignoring it._

 _No what I am here for is the rats, fattened from gorging themselves on the blood of their enemies, rushing to-and-fro amongst the burning buildings._

 _This is the single largest operation the White Fang will ever pull off. It will also be the last._

 _Their strongest fighters, their leaders, and the core behind their ability to project their power have all come to the city tonight to join the festivities._

 _They won't be leaving._

 _I finger the bandolier of throwing knives wrapped around each arm. I don't want the damned things sliding off again and wasting all my time. Nine months isn't too long to wait to try again but there's no reason to take the unnecessary risk._

 _A quick check of all my kit is a good idea. It's easy to grow impatient but I have learned my lesson a thousand times before. Quick pats all over my body tell me my hidden knives are secure, scythe is loaded and stowed away, and a dozen flash bang grenades are in quick pull holsters around my waist._

 _The screech of the Grimm Dragons arrival rips through the smoke-filled air. Far below I thousands of horrified faces turn up and stare at the ominous shadow eclipsing the moon._

 _Just on time._

 _Everything is in order._

 _Let's get to work._

* * *

I am not often at a loss for words. Sitting in an interrogation room sitting across from Ozpin once again however, I find myself not knowing what to say.

He is putting on his typical mysterious act, mostly staring and smiling. Offering me cookies like a pedophile. Thankfully this gives me plenty of time to think about what to do.

On one hand, I would tell him everything. He is a thousand-year-old reincarnating wizard after all, so he knows a lot of things I do not. As the maker of the maiden powers, and other than me the foremost authority on the relics he could be a very useful asset.

On the other hand, in this moment there is nothing I want to do more than take a knife and plunge it through his eye and dig it into his brain. My hand twitches involuntarily towards my sleeve where I would normally have a cache of throwing knives hidden.

The wizard doesn't know how lucky his is that I am not properly armed. Between that and the invisible weight pressing down on me from overusing my aura and eyes on the same night I can barely stand, let alone fight him.

Although I can still probably take him if I catch him by surprise. No one expects a cute little girl to jump across the table and rip out their jugular...

Except perhaps immortal wizards.

Let's not test that theory.

I don't particularly like either option. One requires me to lie to a man who is both incredibly gullible, but also a living lie detector. The other would be placing my faith in a man I can't trust.

All in all. They are both pretty shit choices.

The wizard pushes the plate of cookies towards me with a smile. "Those are for you by the way, help yourself."

Before the words even finish leaving his mouth, I am cramming the cookies down as fast as I can. I almost choke on a mouthful upon seeing Glynda's eyes go wide at my voracious eating. A massive swallow finishing off the remaining cookies and I smile sheepishly, rubbing the back of my head.

I can't really help myself. Decades of going without cookies has left me with quite the craving. My mouth waters just thinking about the wonderful morsels.

"So, Miss Rose, I have a few questions I would like to ask you if you wouldn't mind. You aren't in trouble in case you are wondering before you ask. Theirs just a few things I would like to clear up first." He is still smiling down at me. So far, he hasn't mentioned my eyes, but since I actually used the damn things this time it makes some sense I suppose.

Using them was probably a mistake, although it guarantees he will take me into Beacon. Ozpin isn't the kind of man to let that kind of power run around unsupervised. He would much rather have it close to home where he can keep an eye on it and make proper use of it.

It's almost admirable. If the things he "makes use of" weren't human beings that is.

I nod silently in response to him. I look down at the table in what I hope comes off as nervous or ashamed.

I'm not a hundred percent sure what those emotions feel like anymore, but I'm giving it my best guess regardless. Hopefully I don't accidentally end up looking flirty or coy or some nonsense. Dating and all that was never my forte.

I shouldn't have thought of that. I can taste vomit trying to force its way up my throat at the idea of flirting with Ozpin.

"I was wondering where a little girl such as yourself learned how to fight like this?" I look up from my vigil staring at the table. Ozpin is holding a scroll with security footage of the fight in front of me. He taps the button to play and the little grainy version of me begins to slaughter their way through the little henchmen.

For some reason the first thing that leaves my mouth is...

"Am I actually that short?"

Glynda's mouth falls open in shock while Ozpin lets out a snort. Perhaps a quip was not the best thing to say when watching people be brutally murdered. Glynda seems to be working herself up for a lecture on something, but Ozpin seems entertained. The corners of his eyes are crinkled up in genuine mirth, and his smirk has bloomed into an actual smile.

I don't trust it.

"Settle down Glynda, don't go overboard."

Glynda doesn't looked pleased at her bosses' disregard for my apparent disregard for the people I killed. And here I spent most of my life thinking she was a deranged lunatic who got some sort of perverse enjoyment from punishing her students.

My fighting style, specifically my tendency to go straight for the kill and not give the opponent a moment to breath is heavily based on Qrows fighting. If anything, my current style is closer to his than mine was when I was actually under his tutelage. It shouldn't be a stretch for him to believe my dear old man taught me how to fight in life or death situations.

"I am a student at," wait where did I attend school? "Signal Academy." I finish after a brief pause.

The Headmaster of Beacon takes a sip from his coco and tilts his head in thought, "They taught you how to use one of the most dangerous weapons in Remnant?"

I nod quickly before shaking my head. Technically they didn't. Damnit if only I could remember how this conversation went the first time.

"They helped some. Mostly it was my uncle. He's a Hunter and he took me under his wing."

I hope Qrow never learns I make those shitty bird jokes too. Yang and Tai can never get enough of them. It would be the ultimate betrayal if he knew I was in on it as well.

"There's only one person I know who can use a scythe like that, a dusty old crow..."

I resist the urge to punch Ozpin in the face. Barely. Why the hell can't he just talk like a normal damned person for once?

Instead I nod happily and give a cheery sounding response.

"Yes sir. Uncle Qrow is the best scythe user in the world! He taught me almost everything I know when he is home."

Too bad he is barely ever home. It's understandable why he feels like he has to leave us alone all the time, but it still hurts.

"Does he know about your," he gestured towards my eyes, "other abilities?"

He sure took his sweet time bringing that up. I'm sure as soon as he saw the footage of it he damn near creamed his pants. I know he was always disappointed Summer never had a good grasp on the eyes. Having me here probably makes him feel all warm and giggly inside.

"No Headmaster. I first used them a few days after he left on his last mission. He still hasn't come back and I don't have any way to contact him."

"Oh, so you know who I am?"

As if he doesn't already know...

"Yes. You are the Headmaster of Beacon Academy, Ozpin. My dad and uncle Qrow have told me a lot about you."

That annoying grin is back on his face when he leans back in.

"Would you like to attend my Academy Miss Rose?"

I think I see a vein burst in Glynda's eye behind him. He's lucky her semblance doesn't let her glare ignite people or he would have burned to death by now.

Despite myself, his question, his offer to go to Beacon, still fills my stomach with butterflies and a warm feeling of excitement comes over me. Beacon was my favorite place in the world. My goal and my home for the happiest years of my life. Even after the school, and eventually the city was destroyer I would often think of it. How everything could have been if we just had normal lives and went through all four years of schooling.

Gods yes, I want to go.

"Yes sir. My sister is going this year. I'm planning on applying in 2 years once I graduate from Signal."

The idiot wizard nods happily. Having a silver eyed warrior is just too good to pass up.

"Okay then. Glynda, go ahead and get the paperwork ready. I'll call Tai and let him know."

Glynda looks confused. Poor Glynda. Even she doesn't understand her boss and she spends most of her time around him.

"Let him know what?" She asks while pulling out her own scroll, no doubt having all paperwork for everything Beacon related saved on it. She is quite the dedicated worker.

Ozpin gets up from his chair and dusts himself off.

"That his daughter will going to initiation tomorrow. It would be rude not to tell him after all."

I force my face to display some sort of shock, but inside I can't help but giggle gleefully to myself.

Hook, line, and sinker.

* * *

 **Welcome to the bottom of the page once again!**

 **Bit of a shorter chapter today, after all it only covers the dialogue with Ozpin. I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to go with here. After all their are many obvious different paths it can take. I figure of all people, Ozpin wouldn't care too much about Ruby killing some henchmen, and Qrow is usually depicted in fanficitons as really good at killing humans as well as grimm, so i figure it would be plausible to Ozpin that he trained Ruby to be similarly capable.**

 **Not too much to say for this one. I really enjoy writing the little blurbs/flashes through time in the start of chapters. I started doing them in a story i wrote ages ago where each chapter of the story had a segment of the final chapter of the story in it. It was fun, and allowed for some interesting foreshadowing.**

 **SO ONTO THE REVVVIIIIIEWS!**

 **To start, thanks everyone for your kind words. I really appreciate it.**

 **MojaveMashal : Yeah hahaha. I wanted so hard to make a joke about that when i was writing the chapter. I couldn't for the life of me think of a way to do it without it completely breaking the tone of the scene though :P**

 **seraphimnight:** **Yeah theirs something about these time traveling stories I just adore. It's a shame so many of them peter out quickly once new lore and episodes come out and change everything. Thats one of the main reasons I gave so little information about the fall of humanity, to prevent massive changes in the next volume just blowing it out of the water. Also, i really love your Guilty Rose story. I'm a sucker for any story that hurts Ruby for some reason.**

 **Guerra Bored:** **I'm working with the idea that the eyes are not Grimm specific, since they worked on Cinder. In the show they are probably specifically anti-magic user, but I'm expanding that to make them more powerful overall.**

 **Sm0keyPanda:** **Wow. Thank you very much! In case anyone is wondering, this one took 20 minutes to write. Most of it was the intro section because I had a few different types of scenes in my head that i went over before settling on the Fall of Vale. The rest of the chapter was just five minutes of PURE SPEEEEEED.**

 **Thank god for spell check. Half this sucker was underlined red when i got to the bottom :P**

 **Also, thank you all for reading, following, and favoriteing. You have been blowing up my phone because it pings every time i get an email alert about a new follow, fave, or review hahaha.**


	4. Chapter 4

Last Time Around: Chapter 4: Warmth

* * *

" _Come on Ruby, don't you want to watch your sisters fight? She's all the way to the finals of the tournament!" Taiyang Xiao Long shouts excitedly from across the room. He is sitting in front of the holoscreen in the center of our living room watching the Vytal Tournament._

 _I don't share his excitement. Instead I am laying on my back in the middle of the room spread eagle, practicing fine aura control. Mostly I'm just staring at the ceiling fan spinning around and trying to block out his attempts to draw me into a conversation. It's hard to stop the annoyance from bubbling up like a volcano inside of me listening to his inane prattling on about things that don't matter._

 _So, what if she is in the finals? I have won the tournament a thousand times. And you know what it got me?_

 _Not a gods damned thing._

 _Yang might win this time. She might not. I did not call her yesterday which lowers her chances significantly, but she will at least give Pyrrha a run for her money._

 _It won't make any difference. Beacon will fall. Pyrrha will choose her mind over her heart, and everything will slowly fall apart. This time at least I will not be a part of it._

 _I won't have to lead my friends to their deaths._

 _I won't be forced to kill them._

 _Or cripple them and hide them away._

 _Or go on a rampaging slaughter through the countryside, trying to wipe out as many enemies as possible in the shortest amount of time._

 _No, this time I will simply sit back, relax, and wait for curtain call. I don't need to go to Beacon to train. No teacher there is more proficient than me anyway. Even the great Ozpin has less knowledge of aura in his entire body than I have in a finger._

 _Tai shakes my shoulder, probably assuming I have fallen asleep on the floor._

" _Come on Rubes, you know your sister wants you to watch." His voice is softer this time, more pleading instead of excited. He must be worrying about how withdrawn I have been acting recently. This always happens eventually if I stay home with him, I'm surprised it's taken this long to be honest._

" _Why bother?" I find myself saying. I don't mean to, I just finally ran out of patience. Months of living with Tai alone are enough to drive anyone insane. He always wants to be doing something and without Yang around to distract him it all falls on me._

" _Why bother!? Ruby, this is a big deal. Your sister could win the biggest tournament of the year! She's up against probably the best fighter in her age group! This is an incredibly big deal!"_

 _I would have expected Tai to understand why the Vytal tournament is actually set up each year. It's certainly not for the entertainment of the masses._

" _Tomorrow Vale will be attacked by the Grimm and White Fang. Tens of thousands will die. Beacon will be closed permanently. Yang will lose an arm in a fight against a man named Adam Taurus." I open my eyes to see the blonde man staring down at my in confusion._

" _Honey what are you talking about? White fang? Heck, Beacon getting shut down? Is this some show you've been watching or something?"_

 _I shake my head and push myself into a sitting position._

" _Besides, I have seen Pyrrha and Yang fight thousands of times. I am already known who will win. The important things to remember are that Pyrrha will die tomorrow, and my dear cousin will return home by Monday."_

 _The look on his face at that is priceless._

" _Cousin? Ruby what are you talking about, you don't have any cousins."_

 _His cover would have been far more convincing if he didn't immediately break out into nervous sweats. If I was his daughter and I inherited his complete inability to lie I would never be able to get anything done._

 _Qrow is much better at bending the truth, even if he feels horrible for doing it._

" _I've known Qrow was my dad for years father. It wasn't exactly difficult to figure out. I look nothing like you, and my aura is naturally tuned to Qrows, same way Yangs is tuned to you and Ravens. Based on looks and aura it would actually be more likely that I was Raven and some stranger's daughter than you and Summers."_

 _His face looks surprisingly hurt when I'm finished speaking. I try to avoid these for this vary reason. It doesn't affect me if my father is hurt to the same degree as my friends, but I do still care. I would prefer it if he didn't get hurt unnecessarily._

 _But damn if I don't want to watch him squirm sometimes._

 _I get up to my feet and toss my hair over my shoulder. I haven't bothered trimming it in the 9 months since returning, and it reaches down past my shoulders now._

" _I'm going to bed. You should get on a bullhead to Vale, maybe get a hotel room. It will save you the travel time tomorrow during the chaos."_

 _With those parting words I walk past my stunned father and to my room. I feel odd. I'm not sure what I am feeling but I know I should be feeling... something. I should feel terrible for making my father miserable. I should be horribly depressed knowing my family and friends will be hurt tomorrow. Some of them may even die._

 _Despite that, as I fall into my bed and stare blankly up at the ceiling..._

 _I don't think I feel anything._

 _Odd._

* * *

"I can't believe my baby sister is coming with me to Beacon!" Yang squeals happily and hugs me tight from behind. She has always been so physical in her affections. I never realized how much I missed her inability to mind personal space until she began choking me to death for the third time that morning.

I wonder if my occasional lapse in judgement could be blamed on my sister depriving my young brain with oxygen repeatedly, that most likely isn't very healthy.

"Y-Yang. air! Need ACK!" I choke out past the iron vice squeezing my lungs. The death grip tightens even harder if that is somehow possible for a brief moment before pulling away leaving me gasping at sweet delicious air.

Not being strangled to death is the tastiest victory of all.

"I'm sorry Rubes, I'm just so EXCITED!" My boisterous sister spins me around and grabs me by both shoulders to keep me steady. How did I ever keep up with this woman? If my semblance wasn't speed I probably would have been run to death before I hit adulthood.

Catching my breath takes a minute. If I was actually my younger self I probably would have been annoyed at her antics, especially considering my nerves upon attending Beacon early.

But now?

I smirk up at my sister and stick my tongue out at her. "You goof. If you strangle me before initiation than your little sister won't be going to Beacon with you." Her familiar grin makes me break out into a massive smile. It's been too long since I have seen Yang's face light up in joy. The last year before her death they were few and far between.

She sure tried though. Always looking on the bright side no matter what. Even when things really got to her she put on the brave face for us, for me. I have no idea how I would have gotten through those years without her.

I certainly didn't make it easy on her. She almost disowned me after I went to Raven for help without telling her.

I lean forward and pull her into a backbreaking hug of my own. This young body doesn't have the strength needed for really make her feel it in her bones, but I do my best to make up for it by shaking her like a ragdoll before dropping her back onto her feet.

There aren't words to describe the incredible feeling of having my sister with me again. Combined with the knowledge that in this very airship, within only a dozen or so meters of me, are the rest of my childhood friends it is enough to make my heart warm and body tingle with giddy excitement. Yang is like a bonfire given life, so incredibly warm and comforting to be near.

And I feel like I have been trekking through frozen wastes for years. At long last able to fall asleep at the hearth.

I know I should be focused on other things. I barely remember how initiation went, and I need to make sure it goes well again. Beyond that I could be out hunting down Salem's allies or working to prevent any of the hundreds of other disasters.

But even knowing that I can be using this precious time to save the world...

I can't bring myself to let her go.

It's all I can do to keep the tears that are threatening to overwhelm me from pouring down my face. I bury my head in Yang's shoulder and take a deep breath to calm myself.

She smells like... wait a second.

"YANG!" I shout and pull away only to grab her by her collar with both hands. She's so much taller than me I have to plant my feet on her to put myself eye to eye with her.

Her big lilac eyes widen. "Ummm.. What's wrong Ruby?" A nervous chuckle follows that, she must think I'm coming down with nerves about Beacon or something.

"Your scarf smells like alcohol." I say in a cold voice. I'm not sure what my face looks like right now, but whatever my expression is, it scares the daylights out of Yang.

She sputters out what was probably an excuse, but she fails to get past the first word before I stick a finger in front of her face and follow it with a death glare.

"You aren't supposed to drink! That's bad for you! You are the one always telling me not to act like Uncle Qrow, YOU SHOULDN'T ACT LIKE HIM EITHER!" I should the last part while shaking her fiercely. We must be quite the site because I can hear a few people nearby start to laugh at our antics.

This is no laughing matter though. There is no way in hell I am letting Yang start that horrible habit this time. Detoxing her the first time almost killed me.

Literally. She punches hard when she is in withdrawal.

Yang takes a moment to rein in her unwieldy golden mane. She is oddly quiet, almost pensive. That's good, it means she is looking for the right thing to say, hopefully it's the right thing.

"I'm sorry Ruby. I went to a club in town to relieve some stress last night." She finally tames the wild beast that is her hair and leans down to look me in the eye. "I didn't know it meant so much to you."

I sniffle at that. I would like to say the shaking in my voice and burning of tears building in my eyes isn't genuine, that I am simply a master manipulator, but the thought of watching Yang and Qrow fall apart again tears a massive hole in my chest.

"I'm sorry Yang." I mumble, "I shouldn't have yelled at you. I just... I like Qrow best when he doesn't drink. I don't want you to be like that either."

My wonderful sister pulls me into a warm hug. It's not the unbearably tight one she gave me earlier. This one is more relaxing, reassuring.

"It's okay Rubes. I understand."

The dam breaks and tears begin streaming down my face. I burry my head into her shoulder and squeeze her with all my strength.

I never want to let her go.

* * *

 **Welcome to the bottom!**

 **This chapter was a liiiiittle different than the previous ones. The little intro bit was about a thousand words. More than double the length of the others i believe. Originally it was going to be it's own chapter since my idea for the story was basically a series of one shots that were all different random moments but I decided to go with a more straightforward attempt instead so I don't over complicate things like i usually do.**

 **This chapter, the main part that is, was originally going to be incredibly short, probably less than a thousand words. While I was writing it however the idea for Ruby to confront her sister about her drinking hit me, and i figure it made for a nice sister moment that allows me to show more stuff from the original timeline.  
**

 **I always found it odd Ruby didn't give Qrow a hard time about drinking. i wonder if anyone has made a "Intervention for Qrow" styled fanfic where the main focus is Ruby trying to get him to stop drinking. Alot of people have been touched by alcoholism that there's bound to be a lot of good inspiration for that sort of thing for people.**

 **Thats about all I have to say. I'm surprised I have done 4 of these in 3 days each. i tend to get distracted by other things, games, books, etc that normally i just forget and realize a week later i haven't written anything :P**

 **Thank you everyone who followed and favorited. I love you all, even though you keep making my phone beep when I'm trying to sleep.**

 **ONTO THE REVIEWS!**

 **Merendinoemilliano:** **I don't particularly plan on ships as i write, but I won't be randomly doing crack out of left field nonsense, so canon ones like Pyrrha and Jaune will at least be making an appearance (especially in the first timeline). Although some craziness will probably be showing up in the little introduction sections. And if you have a grimm idea feel free to drop it in a review. I'm not a hundred percent certain yet with what i will be doing to amplify the Grimm threat quite yet, so i could use more material for hashing things out.**

 **DrUSB:** **Brutal murderous Ruby is quite fun. It's one of the reasons I love "Raven raises Ruby" fanfics so much (Which by the way, the day i posted my chapter with a complain in the An about them all going on hiatus, my favorite one came out of hiatus! HUZZAH!). It's sort of a running theme with my fanfics at this point that a character takes extreme offence to Ozpin's cryptic attitude at this point as well.**

 **OmegaWarLordX:** **I read your review and immediately opened up a word document to write some "James Bond Ruby" nonsense. Might be fun to actually do something like that.**

 **And to all of you who left kind reviews and haven't yet realized my writing is trash, Thank you very much!**


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: Hey folks, Colors here. This chapter is quite late, and I actually have an excuse! I bought a gaming desktop to replace my cruddy laptop i got for school. The last 2 weeks of my life has pretty much been taken up by downloading the hundreds of games I already owned, and finally playing them in GLORIOUS HIGH DEFINITION with ALL THE FRAMES PER SECOND! It's been pretty fun.**

 **But not my excitement is slowing and I'm settling back into my rhythm.**

 **Enjoy.**

* * *

Last Time Around: Chapter 5: Family

* * *

 _The weight is back on my mind. Sinking into my skull like all the times before._

 _I'm sitting at lunch as I have innumerable times before. My team surrounds me. Our friends by our sides and making all sorts of inane chatter. I look at each of their faces one at a time before examining all the other students happily eating in the massive room._

 _They are all so happy. They smile, play, and enjoy each other's mere presence._

 _Why?_

 _My eyes sting with unshed tears as my chest begins to burn._

 _Why do they get to be happy?_

 _They don't remember. None of them have dreams filled with screams. The eyes of the creatures from beyond the moon. The faces of their friends frozen in horrible rictuses of terror. The flaming hooks digging deep into flesh and scraping against bone. The never-ending fires that turn skin to ash and melt the fat right off._

 _Gods the smell. I can still smell it! Every time I close my eyes the anguish returns. The thousands of failures, losses and sacrifices. Each one a heavy weight attached to a hook, pulling me deeper and deeper beneath the cold waters._

 _They get to be happy._

 _Yang is sitting directly across from me and is the first to notice the tears going down my face. She immediately drops what she is doing and takes my hands in hers. Her lilac eyes, normally lit up splendidly with glee and excitement, shift between confusion and worry. Her little sister is crying, and she doesn't know why._

 _Because she has forgotten. She gets to be happy._

 _I break down completely and great sobs wrack my body. In an instant my sister is over the table and holding me tightly to her chest, whispering words of comfort in my ear._

 _Why?_

 _I squeeze my sister tight._

" _Why don't I get to be happy?"_

* * *

The sight of Beacon Academy in all its glory truly is a sight to behold.

When the doors to the massive airship spring open immediately hundreds of prospective students burst forth in a tidal flood that threatens to destroy all the properly manicured and cared for lawn work that the school clearly spent far too much money on. Yang and I stay back to wait for the massive throng of people to cool down before finally stepping out and taking in the sights.

I am back in my favorite place on remnant.

My favorite memories are from this wondrous place. Despite the harsh realities that forced their way in later, I still couldn't help but feel such an intense nostalgia. The childhood memories are just so tantalizing and sweet. A warm fire amidst the frozen tundra keeping me from freezing over completely.

"Okay sis, are you good on your own from here on? I promised some friends I would meet up with them but if you want I can stay with you." Yang asks quietly. She talks like she is speaking to a skittish animal that might just run away if spooked.

Like a chipmunk. Or perhaps a sloth.

I force my face into a serene smile and shake my head, "No don't worry Yang, I'll be fine. I need to get out and make friends anyway."

She takes a step back and makes a show of straightening my clothes, tugging on my sleeves and skirt to get rid of the numerous wrinkles from my rushed morning before smiling down at me. "Okay if that's what you want. I'll see you during initiation."

With a parting wave my sister is gone among the crowd.

I always found it odd that none of her friends make it into Beacon. Or at least that if they did they never hung out or talked. For a while I thought she just lied and made it up to get away from her annoying sister for a time.

Sister's gone. Now should be about the perfect time.

A genuine smile lights up my face and I throw my arms out wide and fall directly backwards.

"Watch out you dolt!" A shrill yell comes from behind me as I tumbled through a trolley full of white cases. Poor Weiss, she never did give us a good explanation for why she brought her own dust to a Hunter Academy.

The school just gives the students dust for free. You don't even need a form, just walk in a grab what you need.

It was a convenient system, although the added cost of fixing all the buildings students would inevitably destroy did a number on the school's budget.

I open my eyes, still smiling like a doofus to see perfect blue sky above me get blocked by an angry pale face.

* * *

Getting yelled at by Weiss is far more enjoyable than I remember. Although most of her yelling was less... angry? Biting?

Bitchy?

Yeah bitchy. Far less bitchy after a month of two of knowing her.

I'm too happy seeing my partner again to mind her vitriol though, I almost don't even notice Blake stalking over. Her face looks almost relaxed like she doesn't care particularly about what she is watching, but the corners of her eyes are pinched in a way that I know means she is mad.

Very mad, furious actually. Sometimes I forget how much she disliked Weiss early on.

She comes to a stop behind Weiss and opens her mouth to make what could only be a scathing remark about the pale girls' family, but I jump in before the words can get out of her mouth.

"I'm sorry Weiss," I smile so big my cheeks actually begin to hurt a little and I clasp my hands in front of my chest, "I'm was so excited I wasn't paying any attention! We're at Beacon! BEACON! This is incredible!" I hop in place excitedly as I finish.

Weiss's confused face looks so stupid I have to choke down the laughter that explodes in my throat. Instead of giggling it sounds more like I inhaled a bug.

"Y-yes. Beacon is an incredible place." Weiss responds and carefully returns to vial of dust she had grabbed off the floor and returned it to its crate. "I'm sorry for my... brash reaction. This is my first time away from home without my family and I am a little stressed." To my surprise Weiss actually looks shy.

It's so adorable.

Blake is still glaring at the back of the girls' head where she can't be seen by her unknowing enemy.

I should try to keep them separate for now.

"Want to sit with me during the orientation? I don't know anyone here except for my sister and she is busy with her friends."

The heiress smiles and nods. Was it always this easy to become friends with her? I could have just done this the first time and saved so much trouble?

Well shit. That would have saved a lot of time.

* * *

"So, everyone in your family is a Hunter?" Weiss asks from her sleeping bag next to mine. Yang is on my other side trying her hardest not to constantly butt in on our conversation. She still randomly interjects every thirty seconds, but at least she isn't acting like her normal self.

If I had to listen to her trying to get in Weiss's pants all night I would probably have to blow my fucking brains out.

"Pretty much. Our dad, my mom, Yangs mom, and our uncle were all on the same team. Dad and Uncle Qrow are still hunters. Our grandparents on dads side were also hunters but they died ages ago."

Weiss tilts her head thoughtfully. The obvious question is formed in her head right away, but I can tell she is trying to think of a way to ask it without being rude. Heading off the question before she can ask it is probably a good idea.

"My mom is dead, and Yang's mom is currently a murderous psychopath bandit terrorizing the countryside."

The reaction to that is what one would expect, and it is glorious. Watching Weiss sputtering, trying to form words only to trip on them over and over is a wonderful thing to watch.

"She's not a murderous psychopath!" Yang growls from behind me. Underneath her anger I can tell she is hurting. She knows it as well as me, she just doesn't like thinking about it.

That would get in the way eventually. I need to rub it in her face now.

"Raven Branwen is on the "Kill on Sight" lists of all four kingdoms Yang. That means she is either A) evil, or B) has a semblance too dangerous to allow to live. Her teleportation isn't in the same league as that."

I turn to see Yang shoving her face into her pillow and squeezing it tightly. My poor sister never did take to knowing the mother she loved abandoned her to become a criminal of all things. I'm just happy she didn't immediately resort to throwing punches.

"I knooooow," she whines pitifully into the pillow, "I just don't like heeearing it!" My wonderful mature sister kicks her feat like a pouting child. Her tantrum doesn't last very long though and in only moments she pokes her head up to talk to Weiss.

"Yeah though. My birth mother is a stone-cold bitch. Summer Rose, the woman who raised me and Ruby, is a thousand times the mom she could ever be." She flops on her bank and stares thoughtfully up at the vaulted ceiling, "It's incredible Raven and Qrow are even related. They are absolutely nothing alike."

I chuckle softly at that. Uncle Qrow is such a softy, he dotes on Zweii whenever he is around more than the rest of us put together. He told me a few years after the fall of Mistral that he did it because he wanted his happy, relaxing moments to be as "light and fluffy" as possible.

Makes since. He does kill people for a living after all. Speaking from experience, spending all day from sunup to sundown ending people's lives is heavy stuff.

More than a few times I envied Neo. She could murder day and night and have a smile on her face.

"W-wow that's... something." Weiss finally manages to get her words in order. "My family isn't as... exciting to be honest. My father runs the Schnee dust company and my mother pretty much just does her own thing. No Schnee I know of is a bandit but... my father has probably done more damage that any bandit ever has?"

Yang actually looks happy to see someone has a parent that is arguable worse than her own.

"Really? Doesn't the company just mine dust? There doesn't seem to be much opportunity for... evilness."

"Evilness Yang? Really?" I sigh and thump her with my pillow.

"My father has spent his entire career ruining the good reputation of the Schnee dust company. At this point they treat the Faunus workers as little more than slaves. They don't get payed, can't quit, and thousands die every year."

At least she knows about it. She never was one to stick her head in the sand and ignore it, but still I'm happy she can just... talk about it with us.

"Wow." Yang mumbles. "That's pretty evil."

My pillow smacks her in the face. My sister is so damned poetic.

* * *

 **Welcome to the bottom of the chapter!**

 **I dont have tooooo much to say about this one, other than just letting everyone know that in the last... 20 or so days since my last update I have plotted out the entire story, so i actually have a solid game plan and ending ready for this. I normally just meander around aimlessly and find the plot in the edit, so this is quite refreshing.**

 **Thanks to everyone who followed, Favorited, and reviewed.**

 **gothboy : Yeah your Ruby Branwen story is one of my favorites. I'm a sucker for those types of stories. Loving your reboot of it so far.**

 **indoraptor:** **I have no plans to cancel it haha. It's good practice.**

 **Rayd2kill:** **I take no effort to correct my mistakes with "There" "their" and "they're". I dont do edits or corrections beyond checking to see if anything is underlined in red because otherwise I will keep adjusting things for months and never actually finish anything. I rarely even bother to read through a chapter before posting it haha.**

 **And that is all of that. Next chapter should be up in a day or two, and after that things will speed up plot wise quite quickly.**


	6. Chapter 6

_**Good morning, Colors here again with a new chapter. This one is different from the rest in that it is only the weird flashback/out of sequence bit in the beginning. This wasn't supposed to be on its own, but doesn't quite fit well with the content afterwords so I just cut it off and made it its own little mini chapter. Next full chapter should be out in a day or two depending on whether or not I make any additional changes.**_

* * *

Last Time Around: Chapter 6: A Ways to Die

* * *

 _The streets of Vale are filled with rubble. Storefronts are busted in from the rampant looting, and entire buildings have collapsed on top of their tenants from the combined attacks of the White Fang and the Grimm. The cleanup, if it manages to even start with the massive Grimm Dragon continuing its rampage across the Vale countryside, will take years._

 _Assuming Qrow and the group of hunters sent to take down the monstrosity don't die horrible deaths. Their casualty rate on a successful hunt is around 80%._

 _Their success rate is only two in five._

 _It doesn't matter though. Taking care of the dragon should only take me a few minutes. I just have a few loose ends to clean up first. It's quite the pathetic excuse for a dragon anyway. Thousands of years ago there were Elder Dragons that dwarfed mountains and took entire coalitions of nations to take down._

 _This one barely even registers in comparison._

 _The dragon can wait though. While it is a loose end, it is also a Grimm. The simple-minded creatures have very few paths of divergence, only having two or three likely chain of events. I know all of them, and can take care of it in my leisure._

 _Or leave it to Qrow. It saves me some time now, even if the dead hunters set me back in two years._

 _No, the loose end I am taking care of is much more important, and has a much greater effect on events to come. It is not very likely to occur, but I have time to check and nowhere better to be._

 _I could go and guarantee the safety of my team instead, but I made enough adjustments already their odds are just about perfect._

 _And if one of them does die and derail my current plans I carry a sidearm for just such occasions._

 _I must say, committing suicide is a lot easier after the hundredth time._

 _"Ruby!" A small shaky voice just barely squeeks out from underneath a bit of rubble at the base of the Tower. With all my thinking I didn't even notice I made it to the tower._

 _Odd._

 _The rubble on the girl is light enough and I toss it off of her, revealing the battered form of Pyrrha. Her firey red hair is twisted crazily, her face is covered in the same white dust from the destroyed buildings everything else is._

 _More importantly, her only major wounds her aura has not managed to heal in the last few hours are a few broken ribs, and both of her broken legs. Nothing immediately lethal._

 _"Ruby! Thank the gods you are here, I thought any moment a Grimm would come by or that... woman would return." Her voice is so thin and breaks every few words. Poor, poor girl._

 _I stare down at the twitching figure, making no move to help. The relieved look on her face slowly gives way to confusion. Why? She must be thinking. Why isn't Ruby, my kindest and most caring friend doing nothing to help me?_

 _"Ruby? Are you okay? You don't look-" I wave a hand to cut her off and give her my usual cheery smile. It's not more or less fake than all the rest she has ever seen._

 _"It's okay Pyrrha, everything is going to be alright."_

 _In one smooth motion I draw my heavy pistol from its place on my shoulder and put a bullet in her chest._

 _Her pained breaths turn sharp and panicked. Her armor is too strong for my bullet to go right into her heart so I had to shoot her in a lung instead. Drowning in your own blood is a particularly unpleasant way to die._

 _It not my least favorite, but it is up there._

 _"Shhhh Don't worry Pyrrha." I kneel next to the dying girl and gently stroke her hair away from her face. Each breath she takes makes little puffs of blood. Each one a little shallower, a little sharper and harsher than the last. "I can't have you distracting Jaune from what is important. Everything will be over soon. Someday you will wake up like nothing ever happened." My hand clutches her hair in a tight grip and I tilt her head so she looks directly into my eyes, "And if one day, you never wake up, take heart in knowing your death was worth it."_

 _She tries to say something, but only manages to make choking gurgling noises through the blood filling her throat._

 _Minutes pass slowly, and the Invincible Girl closes her eyes for the last time. Again. The maiden powers slowly rise form her body like a thin grey mist. My own eyes tingle slightly at the feel of the magics sitting in front of me. A single blast with my eyes would destroy it, and put Cinder out of commission permanently._

 _But I will need those powers later._

 _I get back to my feet and toss the gun on top of the corpse. It's a standard model, used by many of the terrorists. Nothing about it can be traced back to me._

 _As I walk away from the corpse of my friend I can't help but wonder, why didn't I just shoot her in the head? It would have been a faster, cleaner death. Strange that I never thought of it. I need to take a note to do so next time._

 _Lost in my thoughts, I don't notice the cheerful smile on my face, or the warmth glowing in my chest._

* * *

 **And welcome to the bottom.**

 **As you can see, the many attempts to save the world took their toll on young Rose.**

 **For a little context on this stuff, the way I formatted one of the drafts of the story this is loosely based on was that I could have a Flashback in the start of every chapter, and than the chapter itself. Unknown to the reader, each actual chapter would be from a different attempt at saving the world sometimes close together and other times far apart. It led to some interesting reveals in the story, and allowed me to go pretty insane with the foreshadowing. It's not anywhere near as important in this story because I organized and planned this story a fraction of the amount I do with my own work for obvious reasons, so theirs nothing to really be spoiled by telling you it may or may not be happening.**

 **Thats about all I had to say, so lets get on to some reviews shall we?**

 **ims:** **I understand where you are coming from. I rushed the scene a little bit, figured she would open up more once the sisters talked about their own family problems. Also, the general feel i choose to read into when they discuss the SDC is less "Holocaust concentration camps" and more those African pit mines where they have hardly any no food, clean water, and just get sick and die only to be replaced. That or get worked to death, or die because of the zero safety regulations.**

 **siliconoverlord27:** **badass Ruby for the win! Such a shame the "school" part of RWBY is so short that you hardly get to see the cast grow and become stronger. Really want a moment where Ruby just wrecks something and acts like a total badass. Physically pains me every season that goes by without it happening.**

 **tetraforce theory:** **You are the second person to leave a comment about that story, not counting the five people who have PMed me about it hahaha. I will probably give it a read through once i finish this story. I actually filter out Jaune whenever i search for a story to read because the first two Jaune focused stories i read were so ungodly aweful they ruined my hopes and dreams to ever like him as a character. Also turns out it will take another chapter for you to see how Blake reacts hahahaha. Sorry about that ;D**


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: Heyo. Colors back once again. Haven't posted in a while, so this chapter is quite short. Need to write a bit to get back into the swing of things and all that. Not much more to say really, so onto the chapter!**

* * *

Last Time Around: Chapter 7

* * *

 _I stand on a precipice, balancing on a razor thin line._

 _To my left is the end of the world. Vacant cities and burnt forests fill the world. It is a bleak future of our own making._

 _On my right lays a vibrant world flourishing with life and color. Children laugh and play, couples grow old together, and all flavors of life abound. The woods are filled with monsters of old that have long been forgotten._

 _Two races hang in the balance._

 _Do I forgive the thief, ignore a genocide, and doom the world?_

 _Or return what was stolen and allow them to fade away?_

 _A thousand times I have stood on this razors edge. Each time too scared of the waiting darkness to take the plunge._

 _I imagine it won't be any different this time around._

* * *

Long before the rest of the applicants to Beacon begin to stir themselves awake I find myself laying on my back on one of the many high roofs of the Academy. I never appreciated how beautiful the views from the heights were when I was young, even the view from Ozpins tower completely went over my head. Now however it is oddly enthralling. Just staring out, city on one side and forest on the other, watching the sky slowly brighten and the mist burn off awakens feelings in me I can't properly identify anymore.

I'm fairly certain they are good ones though. They don't hurt after all.

Thinking back, I'm farely sure I remember Pyrrha spending a lot of time up here. I never spent much time with her when I was little but her death had quite the impact on me.

Maybe... maybe this time I can get to know her better. See her as more than the "invincible" girl. At the very least it might be enjoyable to share this peaceful time of day with someone else who can appreciate it.

I'll need to make sure to introduce myself to her today, and to make absolutely sure not to act like a fangirl like Weiss.

Just another thing to add to the ever-expanding list of things I need to do with way too little time.

I can still feel the fog, the silken, calming coolness in the back of my head threatens to push forward and overwhelm me sometimes. Part of me wants to go back to how I was then, blank, vacant and uncaring. It's so much easier you know? Careing hurts when you _know_ nothing good can come of it.

But this warmth, like the sun peaking over the horizon and slowly heating me, from being arround my old friends. More than anything else I want to bask in it, enjoy my time among them once more. Pretend that everything is alright.

The world isn't ending.

Everyone isn't going to die.

But the test isn't for a few more hours yet.

So for now, maybe I can loosen up. When I'm up here by myself. No one counting on me. Just for a moment let myself believe the lie that everything is fine.

Certainly nothing bad can come of that.

* * *

The assessment went pretty much exactly how I expected.

Jaunes flirting with Weiss was nipped in the bud by Yang running interference pretty early. It's amazing how much more relaxed and less... bitchy? That sounds right. How much less bitchy Weiss acts during initiation when she isn't annoyed by Jaune immediately before, and has Yang and I to chat with beforehand.

Other than that, everything is quite standard. We go out. Meet our partners, and they all murder some Grimm. Poor things were so young they could barely kill a farmer, let alone a trainee Hunter.

Well, the nevermore and deathstalker probably could have slaughtered some civilians, but Jaune managed to help kill them so they couldn't kill _too_ many.

Right? Sure.

The important thing is that team RWBY, and team JNPR, are back in action.

Kind of.

The rest of them are practically amateurs in comparison to me. Even Pyrrha, who far surpassed my abilities when we were students, may as well be a child playing with her parents' weapons.

I really need to think of a way to say that without sounding incredibly offensive.

But in all seriousness, after seeing them all in action I am appaled at just how... GOD FUCKING AWEFUL they all are. Did they learn nothing at school? Did Tai and Qrow spend no time at all teaching Yang and I? Were Weiss's no doubt incredibly expensive tutors all con artists? If Blake is above average for the white fang, its honestly a miracle they didn't all kill themselves by accidentally falling on their fucking weapons.

It's not actually that bad. It's just... gods I have my work cut out for me.

Fixing the thousands of flaws in their fighting styles, along with training them in proper aura use?

Beacon tries to do that, but they have 4 years, dozens of teachers, and an unlimited budget to do it. Not to mention they have one of the strongest aura users (who technically is several of the strongest aura users) overseeing things.

How am I going to do this? I'm not a teacher, heck I am barely capable of intelligent conversation most days.

Whatever. It won't do overthinking things now. I'll figure something out later, last minute panic is a wonderful motivator.

* * *

 **Welcome to the bottom of the chapter!**

 **Quite short as i said at the top. Coming off of about a month and a half or so of no writing whatsoever so the flow was pretty bad. Hopefully the next one comes quicker and i get it up this week.**

 **As to why i didn't write for a month you ask? Vacation! Followed immediately by being sick. And realizing I bought Payday 2 Ultimate Addition at some point and playing the shit out of it.**

 **Fun stuff! Except for the being sick part. That kinda blew. I'm actually suprised i didn't get ill during the Vacation. It was about 4 weeks of nonstop travel all over and normally my body reacts to travel poorly for whatever reason. i blame the 7-11 breakfast sandwiches.**

 **Now that thats over with, onto the reviews!**

 **omegawarlordx: Yeah i shopped a few different ideas for wierd fucked up shit i could have Ruby to do Pyrha. I felt that one did the best middle ground between being brutal and also understandable. My favorite part of it is when she tells pyrrha if she never comes back to life than her death was worth it in the end. I'm a sucker for this kind of stuff.**

 **the powder keg: i dont plan on stopping it hahaha. Of course as soon as i get a review telling me they like the quick update i go a frakking month and a half without posting! Should be faster updates from now on. Hopefully. I jinxed it didnt I.**

 **Sm0keypanda: I hate you so much for that.**

 **Gladius Invidia: i dont know what it is about it, i assume its mostly because to make him interesting you have to literally change every detail about him to where he is basically an OC, but of all the characters you can make the MC of a story he is just sooooo unenjoyable hahaha.**

 **tetraforce theory: Personally im a big fan of OOC. After all if you only want in character stuff you may as well just watch the actual show!**

 **Speaking of the actual show, I have a confession to make...**

 **I still haven't watched season 5.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Welcome to another chapter. Haven't posted one of these in a while.**

* * *

Last Time Around: Chapter 08: A Corpse at the End of the World

* * *

 _I lay on the floor and know I am dying. A familiar blade pierces my chest nailing me to the hard obsidian floor. It was placed there by the woman standing above me. She looks down at me now, eyes filled with such overwhelming hatred and fury that what little breath I can find is sucked from my lungs._

 _This hate. It scares me. Every time I see her, I can't help that tingle in my brain telling me to run and hide. To crawl under my bed and pray the monster doesn't find me. To run to my father and jump in his arms, even if the logical part in my brain knows he can do nothing to stop this dark creature._

 _She leans down until her face is scant inches from my own and stares into my eyes. I want nothing more than to look away, but I lay petrified. The baleful gaze cutting through my thin veneer of self-control and stabbing into my soul._

 _The primal terror this woman inspires in the hearts of man..._

 _I don't know which was worse._

 _Feeling her absolute, soul encompassing ire for the first time._

 _Or realizing it is entirely justified._

* * *

The first night after classes I get to work.

Sneaking out once everyone falls asleep is child's play. All my teammates are years away from being able to keep up with me anyway. It's a damned miracle nobody learned about my eyes when I was a child and sent an assassin to carve them out of my skull as we slept. Once the end of the world really got going, I had to start planting traps around myself and being alert 24/7 or risk being blinded in the night.

I wasn't like Blake. She always enjoyed going about unseen and seemed to take some personal satisfaction from sneaking around. I never gained her appreciation for the nuances for stealth, learning purely for necessity's sake.

It did come in handy in more... aggressive roles though. Nothing quite matches the killing potential of a massive 50 caliber sniper rifle bullet to the head when they don't know it's coming.

Eat shit Mercury.

Gods I can't wait to kill him again.

Watching his look of surprise through a 20x optic when an explosive anti-tank round blew through his aura and tour him in half at the hip was a magical thing.

It didn't make the hollow feeling from all the friends he took from me any better though.

Best not to think about it. Back to the present.

Beacon Academy is filled to the brim with hidden cameras. Each hallway has at least a half dozen, and every doorway has cameras on both sides that record whenever the door is opened. It is virtually impossible to navigate the interior of the buildings without being recorded to some degree. I briefly considered wearing a mask like a certain fiery bitch, but a strange masked woman being caught wandering around on camera would be far more suspicious that little Ruby Rose stalking through the night halls.

After all, kids are a curious bunch.

It takes me quite a long time to "aimlessly wander" through the halls to my destination. Luckily, my destination has no security whatsoever.

The elevator to Ozpins office/apartment/penthouse is identical to every other elevator in the school other than its far greater vertical travel. What the students do not know is that it goes almost the same distance straight down as well. Due to what lies beneath most typical modern security measures, in fact most modern dust-based technology, cannot function properly.

So, I can just step through the door, input the 20-digit code to gain access to the secret floors and press the button taking me down.

My first life I never actually went down this elevator. By the time I had to return here to retrieve Destruction the entire building was in ruins and I was in the middle of a fight to the death.

He should have kept Choice here. If he did the White Fang would have been much less of a problem even if having Destruction close improved the quality of Hunters the school could produce.

Hell, the old bastard should have hidden them on Vytal like they originally planned under a thousand locks with no keys and millions of automated guns waiting to slaughter anything that approaches.

Speaking of old bastards.

The doors slide open to reveal Ozpin standing at the end of the long hallway. The has-been wizard turns slowly, cane held in a tight grip and clearly ready for a fight.

Judging from his expression, I am not who he was expecting.

"Hello Ruby, what are you doing down here?"

Every so slowly I approach the useless old man.

"Poor, old, useless Oz. Can't even keep his little girls safe from the monsters." My sing song tone of voice gets him on edge immediately.

"How do you know about this place Ruby? Are you working for her?"

He moves to stand protectively in front of the coffin like machine containing the dying maiden. I don't have a use for the woman anymore. At least as long as she is alive, she will as a distraction to keep Cinder out of my way.

I stop a few feet in front of him and force my soul up and into my eyes. To my eyes, the dimly lit room shifts from greys and browns to a pure black and white, outlining everything and allowing me to see the magic floating in the air out of the vault.

"I am here for the Relic Ozpin." I shift my aura and Crescent Rose appears in my hand out of thin air, fully extended and ready to strike. "Do not get in my way. As much as I dislike you, I would rather not see you die here."

Ozpin must know he cannot stop me. My eyes are the antitheses to both aura and magic, leaving him with only physical means to stop me.

He must really regret not designing automated defenses that can work within the demesne of a relic.

Ever the wise immortal wizard, Ozpin makes the wise decision and does nothing to prevent me from passing. Of course, Oz being Oz, he can't help asking questions all the while.

"Why are you doing this Ruby? Can't you see how dangerous this is?"

I ignore him. His idiocy, his begging and pleading. As if the thousand times I bent to his will and let him do as he pleased never happened and his hands are clean.

The vault the relic is held in opens easily. The power of Winter is not designed to open the door, but my skin with aura along with my eyes allow me to simply overpower the mechanism and retrieve the small incense burner inside.

Destruction was always my favorite. The small incense lamp glows a soft red and leaks a heavy mist that drapes across the ground. As soon as I touch it I can feel the poisonous, overwhelming, boiling power rush through my veins and fill me with the urge to crush everything around me. The first time I picked up Destruction I leveled half of Vale and rained fire from the skies for days.

This time I am significantly more in control.

I turn to leave the basement and meet Ozpins eyes.

"I am putting an end to this charade old man. The era of man is coming to an end once again."

A flash of Destruction deletes the space between me and the elevator and I step the hundred yards to it in a single step. I feel the eyes of the gods on my back, judging me, waiting for me to finally choose. "It took many tries, Gods, but I have made my decision."

I'm so sorry everyone, I can't save you all. No matter how hard I try, you will all die one way or the other. All I can do is right our great crime before it is too late.

I take a deep breath and make to leave Beacon for the final time.

"This will be the last time around."

Goodbye everyone.

* * *

 **Welcome to the end of the chapter.**

 **As you can tell. Things went from slow burn to raging inferno quite quickly. I originally planned on having more chapters between Ruby arriving and steeling the Relic, along with the relic being Choice and not Destruction, but I test wrote a few chapters and nothing much came from it other than angsty bullshit since I was going to end with Ruby taking the relic anyway.**

 **This chapter i bring out some of the random head-canon that i make up about Remnant, such as Relics having an effect on the people in the country around them. I always found it odd that the White Fang is so violent in Vale, a country that doesn't seam to have any actual noticeable racism. That mostly ties in with my continued complaints about the handling of Faunus and the magic systems in general in RWBY that I looooove bitching about in Discord.**

 **If you are wondering why Destruction is in Beacon and not Choice... I actually forgot Choice was a Relic. For some reason in my head the 4 relics are Creation, Destruction, Knowledge, and Survival. I don't know how Survival got in their, but in all my fanfictions that is the relic that resides in Vacuo. Creation is in Atlas. Knowledge is in Mistral. Destruction is in Vale.**

 **So in my version of the RWBY universe, Atlas is good at making things (hence the robots), Vacuo is good at surviving (they live in a desert), Mistral is knowledgeable like those stereotypical east Asian monasteries/libraries you see in games and shit, and Vale has the best Hunters because destruction makes them better at killing things. But also makes their crime more violent.**

 **I think that is just about everything I had to say.**

 **I hope you enjoyed, next chapter should come quite faster now that I kicked things into gear.**


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